Order Of St Augustine

Getting Into the Order Of St Augustine: What It Actually Takes

The Order of St. Augustine isn't a club you just sign up for. I spent about eight months figuring out where to start when I first looked into it seriously, and honestly, most people online give you a sanitized brochure answer. The reality is messier. I'll lay out what actually happens step by step. The Order Of St Augustine is a recognized Catholic religious order with roots going back to the 1200s. The modern congregations trace their origin to a 1256 papal decree that merged several groups of hermits who had been living in communities across Italy. Their foundational text is the Rule of St. Augustine, which is significantly shorter and less rigid than, say, the Benedictine rule. That difference matters a lot when you're actually living inside it. The rule emphasizes community, prayer, and sharing possessions, but it leaves a lot of interpretive room. I found that the flexibility is both a strength and a genuine problem during discernment, because it means each Augustinian community has a distinctly different day-to-day rhythm. Here's the practical sequence if you're serious about becoming a member:

1. Talk to a priest or friar in your local Augustinian community. There is no centralized application portal. You show up at a friary or priory near you and ask to speak with the vocation director or provincial minister. Most houses will be happy to talk, but they won't push anything on you. I went to a house in Ohio, spent an afternoon with three friars, and was sent home with a letter and a recommendation to pray about it for a few weeks. Fair enough. 2. The period of inquiry or pre-Novitiate. This is where most people stall because nobody explains it well. You'll be asked to attend community prayer, eat with the friars regularly, and take on some light work or service. This phase can last anywhere from six months to two years, depending on the province and your circumstances. I knew someone who rushed through it in four months because he'd already been visiting weekly for a year. Others dragged on for eighteen months because the community needed more clarity on his motivations. The variation is normal and not a reflection of your worthiness. 3. Novitiate. Once accepted, you enter a formal novitiate, usually lasting one year. This is a distinct period of prayer, study, and community life designed to form you in the Augustinian way. You'll study the Rule, Augustine's writings, Church history, and theology basics. During my own research, I read through parts of the Confessions and De Moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae. The Rule itself is only about 150 words, but the commentary and formation it is substantial. Some provinces add extra seminary coursework here. That depends entirely on whether the community also runs a college or if you're entering a separate seminary track for priesthood.

4. Temporary vows. After novitiate, you profess temporary vows, usually for three to six years. You're now a professed friar but not yet a perpetual member. During this time, you continue studies, serve in ministries, and the community evaluates mutual compatibility. I asked an older friar about this stage and he told me plainly that about twenty to thirty percent of brothers don't proceed to perpetual vows. Some leave voluntarily, some are asked to leave. It's not punitive; it's the system working as designed. 5. Perpetual vows and final formation. If everything aligns, you make final vows. For those ordained to the priesthood, this often coincides with or follows additional seminary years. For brother friars, it marks the completion of formation. After perpetual vows, you remain a full member of the order in good standing.

Where the Order Of St Augustine operates today

The order has multiple congregations within the broader Augustinian family. The main ones are the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.), the Augustinians of the Assumption (A.A.), the Augustinian Recollects (O.A.R.), and a few smaller institutes. They share the same charism and rule but have different histories and structures. If you're approaching this from a lay or secular angle, you might also look into the Secular Franciscan alternative — but for Augustinians, there's the Third Order of St. Augustine for laypeople who want to live the spirit without taking vows. I know several people who joined the TOSA while keeping regular jobs and families. It's a legitimate path if full consecration isn't where you are. One thing that surprised me: the order isn't concentrated in one geographic region the way some people assume. You'll find significant Augustinian presence in the United States, the Philippines, parts of Africa, and Latin America. The order's general administration is in Rome, but the provinces are largely autonomous. That autonomy is why your experience joining in the Philippines could be completely different from joining in Illinois. Don't assume uniformity. What nobody tells you about the financial side: Taking vows doesn't mean you become poor in a way that leaves you with nothing. The Augustinians practice communal ownership. You personally own very little, but the community covers housing, food, healthcare, and education. Some provinces have specific income thresholds for postulants during the early stages, but once you're in novitiate, financial support is standard. That said, if you have significant debt or complex financial obligations, bring it up early. I saw a case where a postulant's student loans created enough complications that the community asked him to delay entry by a year while he restructured things. It's not a rejection, but it's also not something that resolves itself automatically.

Common mistakes people make when approaching this

I've watched this happen enough times to note it clearly. First, people treat it like a career change. It isn't. It's a total reorientation of your life around communal living and service. The romance of it fades fast if you haven't sat through enough communal prayer and administrative meetings to understand what the work actually looks like. Second, people ignore the study component. The Augustinians are called the Order of Preachers in some historical contexts because of their emphasis on learning. If you're entering in the modern era and you're not prepared for sustained academic work, you'll struggle. Not because it's elite, but because the tradition expects literacy in theology and philosophy as a baseline. Third, and this is the one most people miss: the discernment process tests your relationships with other people more than your relationship with God. Community life exposes friction points that solitary prayer never does. I personally encountered a situation where a candidate who seemed spiritually mature on paper had significant difficulty with shared decision-making. He wanted to be told what to do or left completely alone. Both extremes break community. The house I was observing struggled with how to handle it, and eventually the candidate decided it wasn't for him. That's not a failure of anyone involved. It's the system catching something that would have caused real damage later. If you want to start exploring, find your nearest Augustinian friary and email or call them directly. The provincial offices maintain contact information on the order's website. Don't go in with a fixed timeline. The process moves at its own pace. And don't read the Rule of St. Augustine and assume you understand it after one sitting. It's dense in its simplicity, and the depth comes from living it over years, not reading it once.